An Israeli smokes a marijuana joint in Jerusalem on April 20, 2017 during a rally to express their defiance of current laws (photo by THOMAS COEX/AFP)

Israelis hold mass pot protest by parliament

Author: AFPPosted April 20, 2017

Hundreds of Israelis gathered on a grassy hill overlooking parliament on Thursday to smoke marijuana in an act of communal defiance of current laws.

Summary⎙ Print Hundreds of Israelis gathered on a grassy hill overlooking parliament on Thursday to smoke marijuana in an act of communal defiance of current laws. Sitting in small groups on mats shaded by trees in the Rose Garden just across from the Knesset, participants lit up as the clock struck 4:20 pm for the local version of the traditional worldwide April 20 pro-marijuana events, known...

AuthorAFPPosted April 20, 2017 19:55 GMT

Sitting in small groups on mats shaded by trees in the Rose Garden just across from the Knesset, participants lit up as the clock struck 4:20 pm for the local version of the traditional worldwide April 20 pro-marijuana events, known as "420" rallies.

In the afternoon, revellers were mostly men in their early 20s but organisers expected thousands more people to join the event, set to continue till the early hours of Friday.

Guitar music hung in the air with the smoke wafting skyward and the sound of conversation.

Police did not intervene.

To Itamar Yitzhakov, nearly 22 years old from Holon near Tel Aviv, the smoking event -- known locally as the Big Bong Night -- was already "a tradition."

An Israeli girl poses with a mock marijuana joint in Jerusalem on April 20, 2017 during a rally to express defiance of current laws (photo by: THOMAS COEX/AFP)

"Once a year we celebrat e cannabis day. We forget all our troubles, gather here -- all the brothers who smoke -- and we bond," he said.

Yitzhakov said he has been smoking for a few years but he only came out of the "cannabis closet" to his parents and employers a few months ago.

Last month, the government approved a plan partially decriminalising marijuana use in public in favour of fines and treatment, but cannabis advocates are calling for full legalisation.

'I like to smoke'

An Israeli smokes a marijuana joint in Jerusalem on April 20, 2017 during a rally to express defiance of current laws (photo by: THOMAS COEX/AFP)

The Big Bong Nights were founded by Amos Dov Silver, a legalisation activist who organised the first such event in 2014 and a second one in 2016.

Silver was imprisoned for his role in the 2014 event, following which he left Israel for California where he has been living for the past 18 months.

Speaking with AFP from his American exile, Silver said the event was not a demonstration or a protest as much as it was a way to challenge the authorities' mindset on marijuana by bringing together thousands of smokers at once, whose numbers would be too great for the police to hand everyone a ticket.

"The more people present, the more the awareness will rise and we'll be able to start advancing legalisation," Yitzhakov said as he held a smoking mango-scented joint.

Legalisation might take time, but decriminalisation was welcomed by Tal Ofer -- "43 years old, a father to a 16-month-old child, totally normative, employed as a programmer -- and I like to smoke," he said.

Ofer, from Gan Yavne, near the southern coastal city of Ashdod, who brought his non-smoking wife and baby to the event, described it as "a physical act of totally peacef ul protest" pertaining to his personal liberties.

"I want to smoke. I know it's good for me. I know how good the material is," he said.

An Israeli smokes a marijuana joint in Jerusalem on April 20, 2017 during a rally to express defiance of current laws (photo by: THOMAS COEX/AFP)

As a "very hyperactive person," for Ofer smoking marijuana was mainly a way to calm himself down and enable him to focus.